Futility Closet!

One of the better sites on the internet for trivia and random snippets of info comes now with some useful German words that you might learn when English won’t suffice:

Feierabend: a festive frame of mind at the end of a working day

Drachenfutter: (“dragon fodder”) a peace offering to a wife from a guilty husband

Fachmensch: a narrow specialist

Fingerspitzengefühl: (“fingertipfeel”) intuitive sensibility, confident sureness of touch

fisselig: nagged and flustered to the point of incompetence

pomadig: “like hair oil,” able to slip through difficulties

Verschlimmbesserung: an intended improvement that has made things worse

Stammplatz: a favorite usual spot, as a table at a café

Torschlusspanik: (“gate closing panic”) fear that time is running out to act

Zivilcourage: courage to stand up for what is right

Zwischenraum: the space between things

The contraceptive pill is the Antibabypille. “I can understand German as well as the maniac that invented it,” wrote Mark Twain, “but I talk it best through an interpreter.”